Swiss Scenery
Although the Swiss Republic contains twenty-two cantons, or
States, and has a population of three million of people, it is not a large
country, being only about half the size of the State of Maine. Besides
this, it is estimated that two-thirds of its surface consists of lakes,
rivers, and uninhabitable heights. Hence it will be seen that its rich
valleys and habitable mountain sections support a dense population.
The course of our journey led through the wild and magnificent
scenery of Lake Lucerne, or, as it is sometimes called, “Lake of the
Four Forest Cantons,” because it is bounded by four cantons, whose
forest-clad mountains in many places rise abruptly from the water’s
edge. This beautiful lake, with its swans and flocks of half-tamed
birds, we passed at our right.
Besides being noted for its scenery, this lake is intimately asso-
ciated with those historical traditions connected with William Tell,
the so-called liberator of Switzerland from the Austrian yoke. In the
pleasant little town of Altorf, a colossal statue of Tell has been erected
on the very spot, it is said, whence he aimed at the apple placed on
the head of his own son by command of the tyrant Gessler; while one
hundred and fifty paces distant stands a fountain erected on the sup-
posed site of the lime-tree by which Tell’s child stood while awaiting
his father’s arrow.
Several centuries ago, parts of Switzerland were often visited by
earthquakes. They have since entirely ceased; but floods, avalanches,
snowstorms, and land-slides still threaten the inhabitants with frequent
dangers. We passed through one scene of desolation caused by a land-
slip in the summer of 1806. The season had been very rainy, and one
afternoon about five o’clock a strata composed of flint rocks, limestone,
and other soft formations, upwards of one mile in length, one thousand
feet in breadth, and one hundred feet in thickness, was precipitated
from a height of three thousand feet into the valley below, burying
four villages, with four hundred and fifty-seven of the inhabitants. The
scene of this catastrophe was between the celebrated Rossberg and
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